Wok N Roll with us...Bob and Teri Along with Atlas and Kalani: 2018

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Cambria, California November 20-24, 2018

We made a quick trip to Cambria, California, mainly to celebrate Thanksgiving with our oldest son Paul and his wife Casey in their beautiful new home. It was a great trip and their new home is beautiful with a view of the ocean out the front and a pine forest right behind their deck in the back.

We stayed at the Cambria Pines lodge complete with a real fireplace in our room. On the grounds of the lodge they had one of the most impressive Christmas light displays we have been too. The lodge spends over 3 months setting up the display and it was a fun thing to experience as we walked through the pines enjoying all the lights.

We decided while there we would visit Hearst Castle. Most notable on this Hearst Castle visit was the differences I found than were in my memories from when I was about 11 years old. I certainly did not remember so much concrete. But the concrete has probably saved this treasure that resides in a seismic activity zone. I also did not remember so much of the castle having never been finished. Unlike my memories as a child, on this visit I found the collections within the castle to be more fascinating than the building itself. Bob and I have visited several homes of the rich/famous and the key difference we found was that Hearst did not seem to bring in skilled artisans to build lavish marble columns and such rather he mainly re purposed all sorts of art that he bought through various catalogs. I also had no recollection of Mr. Hearst’s open affair with a showgirl that lasted until his death 34 years later and that his wife outlived him by over 20 years. But then again, maybe these sorts of stories were not told on tours in the 60’s.

After visiting the castle, we took the short drive up the coast to see the elephant seals. While we have seen them before they are always fun to watch most especially how inefficiently they move while on the sand. Being Thanksgiving weekend, I thought that most of them looked as though they had overindulged early.

We had a lovely visit with our son and his wife and her parents and siblings during our remaining days. We all enjoyed the great Thanksgiving Feast, good conversation and a fun game of Mexican Train too.

Cambria Pines Lodge

Hearst Castle
San Simeon, California

Elephant Seals
Point Piedras Blanca, California

Too Much Thanksgiving
Elephant Seals
Point Piedras Blanca, California

Paul and Casey's Home
Cambria, California

Gus and Frank, Paul and Casey's Dogs

They stole the show

Cambria, California

Paul fixing up a wonderful feast
in their new home
Cambria, California

Monday, November 5, 2018

Fort Smith, Arkansas November 2, 2018

We spent just one night in Fort Smith where we checked out a few things after a day of travel. In the late 1800’s at the border of what was then the United States and Indian Territory sat Miss Laura’s Social Club. There were several bordellos there on First Street and Miss Laura Zieglar bought this one in 1898 for $3,000. Business must have been good as she repaid the bank loan in only 17 months, at a time when the average wage was just $3 per week. Her girls were known to be well taken care of. They all had weekly health inspections, were well fed and treated regularly to the Opera by Miss Laura. The local clothier, the Boston Store, would come to Miss Laura’s (as they did not want these ladies in their store) to sell them the finest dresses. Miss Laura ran the front office where she would sell a customer a token for $3. The customer would then take his token to the front parlor that was filled with women, dancing and liquor. The customer would socialize with the various ladies and then make his choice. Of the $3 for a trick, the woman got $1, the house or expenses got $1 and Miss Laura profited $1. Most girls would work an average of just 18 months with Miss Laura. They would either marry or move on with the money they had saved. By 1910, there was a lot of pressure in the town to do away with the red-light district. On January 7, 1910, a fire broke out sending women and their customers running into the street in their undergarments. Two of the brothels on the street burned to the ground. This night would forever become known as the lingerie parade. Seeing that the business future was precarious, Miss Laura decided to sell the business to Berta Gale Dean, known as Big Bertha. In 1911 Miss Laura got $47,000 for the business! Prostitution became illegal in 1924. The house still ran, however, until Bertha’s death in 1948 under the cover of being a ladies boarding house.

In 1817, the U.S. government founded Fort Smith as a western frontier military post. Today the historic site serves to remind us of many points in history that passed over the Fort Smith grounds. Trying to keep order in the Wild West, it served as a Fort from 1817-1824 and then again from 1838-1871. Later from 1872-1896, it was the site of the Federal Court of Judge Isaac C. Parker, who came to be known as the hanging judge. His legend has since been showcased in movies such as True Grit, Rooster Cogburn and Hang’em High. While it is true he sentenced more men to hang than any other judge in US history, he also served longer than most judges. He tried 13,490 cases with 9,454 resulting in convictions. The law at the time was mandatory hanging for rape and murder. And interestingly, Judge Parker was said to not be a supporter of capital punishment. In fact, he was bothered by the sensationalism when hangings occurred and had the gallows fenced in to shield the hangings from the view of the general public. He also was instrumental in building a more human jail. The jail at the fort would house up to 50 men in one room at a time and the conditions and stench were said to be horrendous. So all in all, Judge Parker in many ways seems to have become a Western Movie Fictional Character, the making of some big box office hits that seem a bit far from the real character that Judge Parker was.

On to Texarkana as we work our way home.

Miss Laur's Social Club

The Parlor
Miss Laur's Social Club

Miss Laur's Social Club

One of the Girl's Rooms
Miss Laur's Social Club

Miss Laura's Room
Miss Laur's Social Club

Fort Smith Courthouse and Jail

Fort Smith Jail

Fort Smith Court House

The Gallows at Fort Smith

Sunday, November 4, 2018

Kansas City, Missouri November 1, 2018

We spent the night in Kansas City Missouri and then drove into Topeka, Kansas to see the Kansas State Capitol. Every Capitol we have visited has had its own uniqueness and the Kansas State Capitol was no exception. There are two things that stand out in my mind that make the Kansas Capitol unique. The first is that there is copper everywhere you look, the stair railings the imprinted columns, and the ceilings to name just a few. The second is that unlike most Capitol buildings where a rotunda might have been built and then wings added on, this capital built the side wings, one at a time and later added the rotunda. Most of the murals in this Capitol was commissioned more than 30 years after the completion of the Capitol and some much later than that. But the highlight for sure is the brilliance of the large amounts of Copper used throughout the building that is especially beautiful after the recently completed 13-year 325 Million Dollar renovation.

The Monroe Elementary School was operated as one of four schools in Topeka for African American children up to 1954. It is now the site of the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site. When people think of this court case they think of the 3rd-grade student, Linda Brown. But the case is more complicated than that. In 1952 the Supreme Court had several similar cases on its docket that challenged the legality of racially segregated public schools. At the same time, Linda Brown had to walk through a dangerous rail switch yard to catch a bus that took her to a school 3 miles away, all while there was a white school just a few blocks from her home. The decision to name Brown at the beginning of a lawsuit that represented 13 clients was due to Linda Brown’s father, a man bringing the suit. It was felt that having a man at the beginning of the named suit was a better strategy than a woman. The case took 3 years and on May 31, 1955, the Justices handed down a plan for how it was to proceed; desegregation was to proceed with "all deliberate speed." All deliberate speed later was an excuse for delaying the implementation of the intentions of the judge. But the case was important. It is just sad that it took so long to begin making progress.

Our last visit to the area was in Kansas City. Ever since I first saw Thomas Benton’s work in the Missouri Capitol, I became an instant fan. So given a chance to tour his home and also his studio in Kansas City was a no-brainer. He died at the age of 86 while working in his studio, which today is just as he left it. At age 33 Benton married one of his art students. They were married for almost 53 years. She was the financial brains and he was the artist. We found this a bit unusual. Prior to any painting, he would create a maquette a 3-D model and the depth of what he was going to paint. Few remain, as he would destroy them once the painting was done, using the materials to create the next maquette. Many of his paintings depict the life of the common man but also contain many political undertones. His home we were surprised that it was not updated over the years. That said we had never seen a fireplace at the entry and a staircase above that wrapped around this centerpiece. We both thought this was beautifully done.

On to Fort Smith.